Apr

23

I was sent this video about a honey badger taking on 6 lions. I noted a similarity between the way the honey badger reacts to attack. He retreats bitten, backing up with face towards adversary, then counterattacks, retreats for a little, then attacks again and retreat attack again. Is it general or random?

Ken Drees shares from wikipedia:

Honey badgers are very intelligent and are known to be capable of using tools. In the 1997 documentary series Land of the Tiger, a honey badger in India was filmed making use of a tool; the animal rolled a log and stood on it to reach a kingfisher fledgling stuck up in the roots coming from the ceiling in an underground cave.

As with other mustelids of relatively large size, such as wolverines and badgers, honey badgers are notorious for their strength, ferocity and toughness. They have been known to savagely and fearlessly attack almost any kind of animal when escape is impossible, reportedly even repelling much larger predators such as lions. Bee stings, porcupine quills, and animal bites rarely penetrate their skin. If horses, cattle, or Cape buffalos intrude upon a ratel's burrow, it will attack them. They are virtually tireless in combat and can wear out much larger animals in physical confrontations. The aversion of most predators toward hunting honey badgers has led to the theory that the countershaded coats of cheetah kittens evolved in imitation of the honey badger's colouration to ward off predators.

Pitt T. Maner III writes:

UPDATE: It's evidently a myth started by an early Swedish naturalist who heard of the behavior from a 2nd-hand source! Similar to the cliff-diving Norwegian lemming movie meme in some respects.

But at least the birds appear to interact at some level with humans on the honey trail and probably are not far behind a marauding honey badger to pick up the crumbs:

"Lies, Damned Lies, and Honey Badgers"
'Claire Spottiswoode, author of the recent honeyguide paper, set me straight. Even though the bird certainly teams up with humans, Spottiswoode said, "There is no persuasive evidence that honeyguides ever guide honey badgers". Cue baffled noises from me, and the faint whimper of broken childhood memories. Spottiswoode continued: "You might have seen the YouTube clip of a honeyguide seemingly guiding a honey badger - I'm afraid that was a set-up with a stuffed honeyguide and tame badger!"'

and
'The myth of the badger-guiding honeyguide began in 1785 with a man called Anders Sparrman, who had heard the story from local people. He never saw the actual behaviour first-hand. Neither had anyone else. In 1990, three ornithologists – Dean, Siegfried and Macdonald – wrote a paper debunking the honeyguide/honey badger story. In it, they wrote, "Naturalists and biologists have been active in Africa for more than 200 years. During this period, to the best of our knowledge, no biologist or naturalist, amateur or professional, has observed a Greater Honeyguide leading a Honey Badger to a beehive." '

Ken Drees writes:

My sister was in a party hiking in Sumatra, Indonesia some time back that was ambushed by the honey badger. He lay in wait and as soon as the local guide of the group appeared from under a fallen tree at the bottom of a ravine on an established path he swooped. Luckily the guide was quick enough to swing his machete, which had a chunk out of the blade after he caught mr. honey badger's shoulder. My sister was number two behind the guide, ducking under the log at the time of the attack and felt his furry coat on his retreat. The guide was very quick to start hacking a new path through the jungle and organizing the troops to flea since he was certain the honey bear would be back. After a few skipped heartbeats all worked out ok on that day. But it appears from this he's a thinker and from the guide's reaction and concern, the attack retreat attack is possibly not random.

Jim Sogi writes:

In The Book of Five Rings one of Musashi Miyamoto's three main strategies is to retreat …attack …retreat…. attack…retreat. It throws the pursuers off balance and separates multiple attackers and allows you the choice of your terrain and setting.